New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s historic approval rating dipped slightly in a new poll, but the Republican continues to enjoy a huge margin over his presumptive Democratic challenger in this fall’s gubernatorial election.

Mr. Christie leads state Sen. Barbara Buono by 32-point margin, 58% to 26%, which marks a slight decline from his 35-point advantage last month, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The governor leads among Republicans voters and has support from 64% of independents in the poll. Ms. Buono, by contrast, is backed by 52% of Democrats surveyed, while 30% prefer Mr. Christie.

Maurice Carroll, director of the polling instituted, said the election could be a “sweep” for Mr. Christie.
“She’s running an energetic campaign, piling up endorsements, but state Sen. Barbara Buono, who wants to be New Jersey’s next governor, hasn’t been able to introduce herself yet to New Jersey voters,” he said.

Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed said they didn’t know enough about Ms. Buono to form an opinion of her, including 73% of Democrats.

Of those surveyed, 67% approved of Mr. Christie’s work, down from the historic high of 74% in February. The governor’s favorability soared after his handling of superstorm Sandy last year.

Still, 45% of those surveyed want Democrats to maintain control of the state Legislature, versus 38% who supported Republicans taking over the body. All 120 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs in the fall.

The telephone survey of 1,112, registered voters conducted in April had a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.